Issues

Senate Judiciary Committee

Senator Kyl was first appointed to the Senate Judiciary Committee shortly after he was sworn into the Senate in January of 1995.[4]

Senator Kyl is the Republican Ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security. The Senator also serves on the Senate Judiciary Subcommittees on Administrative Oversight and the Courts, The Constitution, and Immigration, Refugees and Border Security.[5]

Sotomayor hearings

During her 2009 Supreme Court confirmation hearings, Senator Kyl expressed concern about how Sonia Sotomayor would approach her decisions as a judge. It was noted during the July 14, 2009 hearings that Senator Kyl scolded Sotomayor for relying on her subjective experience, specifically her race and gender, to make decisions.[6] The Senator said to Judge Sotomayor: "here you are reaching judgment that it could not make a difference but it should make a difference" in relation to a previous speech made by Judge Sotomayor on how racial and gender attitudes would impact a case.[7]

The Senator pointed out contradictions in some of her opinions, based on statements before the Committee, where she said that race does not play a part in her decisions as a judge, and her earlier public speeches and writings, in which she openly claimed that race and gender do play a role in judging.[7]

Analysis

Congressional Staff Salaries

The website Legistorm compiles staff salary information for members of Congress. Jon Kyl paid his congressional staff a total of $2,863,770 in 2011. He ranks 4th on the list of the highest paid Republican Senatorial Staff Salaries and he ranks 83rd overall of the lowest paid Senatorial Staff Salaries in 2011. Overall, Arizona ranks 31st in average salary for senatorial staff. The average U.S. Senate congressional staff was paid $2,529,141.70 in fiscal year 2011.[11]

Net worth

Based on congressional financial disclosure forms and calculations made available by OpenSecrets.org - The Center for Responsive Politics, Kyl's net worth as of 2010 was estimated between $645,238 and $708,235. That averages to $676,736, which is lower than the average net worth of Republican Senators in 2010 of $7,054,258.[12]

Political positions

Percentage voting with party

The website Open Congress tracks how often members of Congress vote with the majority of the chamber caucus. According to the website, Kyl votes with the Republican Party 95.5% of the time. This ranks 5th among the 47 Senate Republicans in 2011.[13]

Recent news

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